Merce Cunningham passed away last night (July 26, 2009). His spirit and talent touched millions throughout his 60+ year career in dance. Merci Merce.

After completing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company website redesign in 2005, I had the honor of meeting Merce. This man had a lineage of working with some of the most talented artists of his time for over half a century. He has been honored throughout the world and his work is hailed as one of the great achievements in dance. So there I was, ready to meet the legend.

After being introduced we started talking about the new website. “I hope you like the site Merce” I said. “Oh, the website. Now we are cooking! The website is great, thank you” he replied. He liked it!, and proceeded to encourage me as only a fellow artist can. He was a kind man with warm eyes and the presence of a true master. He taught me about the importance of chance and letting go to the creative forces of the universe.

My most special time with Merce is the night I found myself waiting outside the Joyce Theater with Trevor Carlson (the Executive Director of the Company) and Merce Cunningham when Mikhail Baryshnikov walked up to us. Baryshnikov and Merce had been friends and started talking. Then something happened that was truly special. Mikhail Baryshnikov got down on one knee in front of Merce’s wheelchair, bowed his head and kissed Merce’s hand. What an incredible display of artistic respect. The artist Mikhail Baryshnikov bowing to the master Merce Cunningham. I will never forget it.

“Since its inception, the MCDC also worked with artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg, composers like Gavin Bryars and musicians like Radiohead and Sigur Ros, who collaborated with Cunningham on 2003’s Split Sides (An excerpt of Split Sides is above.) Recently, Rock Daily was on hand when Cunningham staged his piece Nearly Ninety at Brooklyn’s Academy of Music. The piece featured musical performances by Sonic Youth and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.” Groundbreaking Choreographer Merce Cunningham Dead at 90 [Rolling Stone].

“Like Cage and other composers, as well as several painters, Mr. Cunningham also began experimenting with chance as a compositional tool. He used the I Ching in particular, but also cards and dice to determine which parts of the body would be used, which directions, how many dancers. The point had nothing to do with improvisation; Cunningham choreography was very precisely made. Rather, he wanted to banish predictable compositional habits.

The I Ching is the “Book of Changes,” and Mr. Cunningham’s choreography became an expression of the nature of change itself. He presented successive images without narrative sequence or psychological causation, and the audience was allowed to watch dance as one might watch successive events in a landscape or on a street corner.” Merce Cunningham, Influential Choreographer, Dies [New York Times].

Merce Cunningham Remembered Slide Show

Merce Cunningham Full Obituary

Merce Cunningham 1919-2009 Video

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Website

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Repertory

Located in Queens NYC, just south of the Long Island Expressway where it meets the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is a monument and park that millions pass everyday without any knowledge of it’s significance or beauty. Calvary Veterans Park and the Civil War Soldiers Monument is a New York State Parks & Recreation maintained cemetery that contains the graves of 21 Union soldiers. The monument features four bronze Civil War figures around a 50′ granite obelisk.

“This monument, in the middle of Calvary Cemetery in Queens, honors Union soldiers who died in the Civil War (1861-65). The elaborate monument was commissioned by the City of New York, and erected in 1866. It features a 50-foot-high granite obelisk decorated with bronze garlands and ornamental flags and topped with a bronze figure representing peace, which was sculpted by Daniel Draddy. Draddy also created the four life-size figures depicting Civil War soldiers that stand on pedestals surrounding the column.” Soldiers Monument, nycgovparks.org

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Scherr Technology would like to welcome the Intrepid, CVN-11 back to her home at Pier 86 for the first time in nearly two years.  After an extensive overhaul of both the ship and her pier, the Intrepid has returned as one of New York’s premier attractions.  The overhaul which will cost more than $100 million, will feature a rebuilt pier, new exhibits and previously inaccessible areas like the focsle. Photos by Brian C. Scherr.

“The ship, 900 feet long, glided back into its old parking space parallel to Pier 86, off West 46th Street, just after 2 p.m., filling the void it had left. A digital countdown clock atop the pier flashed “Today!” in red capital letters at the crowd that had gathered along the West Side Highway and the neighboring Pier 84.” Floating Proudly, a Warship Returns to Its Mission, PATRICK McGEEHAN – Published: October 2, 2008 newyorktimes.com

“After almost two years away, the ship is returning to Pier 86 in the Hudson River Park, which was rebuilt to accommodate the floating museum, the submarine and the retired Concorde supersonic jet. The museum is scheduled to reopen to the public on Nov. 8, with a ceremony to follow on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.” The Return of the Intrepid, PATRICK McGEEHAN – Published: October 2, 2008 newyorktimes.com

Click to view the New York Times “The Intrepid Returns To Manhattan” slide show.